The series forces us to think about systems – societal and judicial – that are stacked against her and built to favour Dan. Having devoted her entire life to her husband and children, Betty finds herself with nothing when all that is stripped away from her.

The no-fault divorce laws of the US in the 1980s ignore the emotional abuse and gaslighting she goes through. The divorce settlement takes no account of the fact that she was the family’s sole breadwinner while Dan worked his way through medical and law school. Sure, her methods of retaliation are indefensible – she breaks restraining orders, steals the house keys, vandalises Dan’s new home, and at one point, drives her car into his front door – but neither is Dan’s relentless gaslighting.

However, in court proceedings and outside, it is Betty who is routinely portrayed as “angry, crazy, and hysterical” and penalised for it, while he gets away with a divorce settlement that favours him. It doesn’t matter that Dan knew exactly what he was doing when he left the house at the beginning of his affair, or that he continually manipulated Betty. It doesn’t matter that he straight-up denies that Betty ever contributed anything monetarily to their marriage.

And it is Betty who is routinely chastised by the judge for bringing up Dan’s gaslighting.

Netflix’s Betty Broderick Story, gaslighting, and “angry women”